Nearly 12 years after its initial launch, Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XI is one of the few MMORPG’s left that is sustained by a regular monthly subscription. Its popularity has since been usurped by the natural passage of time, a new generation of consoles, and its spiritual successor: Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. Despite this, the game has still managed to maintain a significant base of players, along with monthly content updates. FFXIV Director Naoki Yoshida has taken note of this, and has nothing but praise and admiration for the game and its team.

“Considering how it’s had to compete with big titles like DQX and FFXIV, I think it’s impressive that it still manages to pull in as many players as it does,” Mr. Yoshida stated in a recent interview. FFXI Producer Akihiko Matsui agreed, while adding that despite losing a considerable number of players to FFXIV, they have also had an influx of players with the release of their latest expansion, 2013’s Seekers of Adoulin.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn will be released for the PlayStation 4 on April 14th, 2014. Final Fantasy XI‘s next major version update is scheduled for March 18th, 2014.

David has been a gamer since childhood and enjoys games that are able to deliver fun and intricate gameplay alongside compelling and emotional narratives. He's also a huge fan of film, television, comic books, and literature. David has his B.A. in English Language Arts from CUNY John Jay College.